Ritendra Narayan Singh, B.B.A., LL.B (Hons.) North Cap University
“Digital media has destroyed much of the magic and mystery of the medium!”
-John Dyer
Traditionally India has three pillars of democracy namely the Legislature, the Executive, and the judiciary. However, with the advent of change, there is a fourth pillar joining the list, namely Media. The media has been hailed as a watchdog over democracy because of its ability to accelerate public inquiry into these three areas. The media has been instrumental in enlightening the public on world news. Outstanding journalism always narrows the gap between society and government. In the past, it has been successful in exposing conflicts through offensive activities, secrecy, and investigative journalism. It has raised many social, economic, environmental, legal, and cultural issues.
More recently, however, the media has been criticized for its excessive interference with the judicial process. It has gradually transformed itself into a ‘Community Court’ or ‘Janta Adalat’. When a person is convicted of a crime, the main principle of criminal law treats him or her as innocent until proven guilty. However, the media completely ignored the difference between the accused and the guilty person, and even before the Court realized the public opinion was formed about the accused and he had already been convicted. This media behaviour is called the "Media Test".
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